Broken Frontier

A buddy comedy set in outer space with a chase scene, a sex scene, a shoot out, and an exploding coffee shop . . . what more could you want?

Meet Krunk, a beastly, green skinned, mama’s boy, intergalactic police officer, and Quinn, a blue skinned, fast talking, pizza deliveryman who are brought together through a series of unlikely events in deep space. The story revolves around a stolen idol, a beautiful thief, the bounty hunters after her, some gamblers, and the two unlikely heroes stuck in the middle.

This darkly comedic satire manages to pay homage to and poke fun at one of comicdom’s most venerated genres: science fiction. This should not come as a surprise since Zach Howard, one of the co-creators, is the man behind the incredibly twisted zombie flick Shaun of the Dead. Here Howard, along with Sean Murphy and Reed Buccholz, takes a stab at science fiction with hilarious results. Never has the straight man/funny man pairing in comics worked so well. Their dialogue bounces, the situations are tense and funny, and the pacing moves the tale along at a fast rate any reader can appreciate as a change from some popular stories out there these days.

The art can also be appreciated. Howard and Murphy share the chores and their styles are so similar the transitions are seamless. With sharp edges, colorful characters, backgrounds and foregrounds filled with jokes all their own, and paneling that doesn’t attend to any one form, but changes for the action, Outer Orbit’s artists give readers a fun ride through a fun story. Some of the scenes and the stylistic flash even remind one of Keith Giffen, whose pencils could rightly be called modern classics. That being said, intentional or not, more artists should emulate him, especially in the sci-fi niche.

If you are a fan of sci-fi and can take a comedic jab or two at your beloved form, then this comic is what you have been waiting for. Pick it up before it sells out.